


The Thought that Counts?

by izumi2



Series: List of Questions (Civil War Team Iron Man) [28]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Civil War Team Iron Man, Not Steve Friendly, Not Wanda Friendly, Teen and Up because of mentions of attempted suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:00:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29306907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izumi2/pseuds/izumi2
Summary: When Wanda gets what she wants and has to face the consequences for it.~*~“You’re wondering why you can’t look inside my head.”“Sometimes it’s hard. But sooner or later every man shows himself.”“Oh, I’m sure they do. But you needed something more than a man. That’s why you let Stark take the Scepter.”“I didn’t expect. But I saw Stark’s fear. I knew it would control him, make him self-destruct.”~Wanda Maximoff and Ultron (Avengers: Age of Ultron).~*~"I want the big one."~Wanda Maximoff (Avengers: Age of Ultron).~*~Civil War Team Iron ManModerated because of trolls
Series: List of Questions (Civil War Team Iron Man) [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/879633
Comments: 206
Kudos: 756





	The Thought that Counts?

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not watching WandaVision unless Wanda gets it in the end, the logic that Ana (Anafandom) is using and I loved that.
> 
> That said, I am an avid instagram user so: spoilers (that... aren't really spoilers for anyone paying attention).
> 
> 1\. Wanda was TWENTY-FIVE/TWENTY-SIX in the events of AoU. *laughs until it hurts* she was literally older than Steve when he tried to enlist. Yeah, Stevie, the "kid" argument only ever gave us the question of whether you saw yourself as a child that didn't really know what he was doing when you tried to enlist four times or was it just some BS that you thought looked like a good argument?  
> 2\. Hello, mental powers that haven't been mentioned since she sicced the Hulk on Johannesburg. *roll eyes*.

**_What was Wanda Maximoff’s intention?_ **

Tony hid his shanking hands by taking his usual spot as the pilot. 

With Barton down, there was even less of a chance for the rest of the team to notice anything off. 

Natasha was tasked to keep Bruce calm. _Not that, that ever fails to make Tony either laugh or crease his forehead in_ _confusion. Natasha wasn't a calming presence._

Clint was down. _And Natasha wasn’t there, she left to interrupt Bruce’s classic music time_. 

Thor was saying something… 

Steve was saying something… about the Scepter… the Scepter… 

**“Why didn’t you do more?”**

Tony faked a cough to hide his shuddering breath and no one was the wiser. 

“This brings us to a close.” Thor claimed. 

“As soon as we find out what else it’s been used for. I don’t just mean weapons. Since when is Strucker capable of human enhancement?” 

Their conversation seemed distant. Like it was underwater… muted. Tony needed… he didn’t know what he needed. He… needed… 

He barely spared a glance as Helen Cho and her team quickly wheeled Barton in. 

Hill was talking to Rogers, Thor was… somewhere. Natasha went with Clint and Bruce was also… somewhere. 

“Tony… Tony…” Suddenly Bruce was there and there was pain on his elbow. “Tony! Call… call… Rhodes, J.A.R.V.I.S, call J.A.R.V.I.S.” 

_“He is already en route, Dr. Banner, ETA fifteen minutes. I took the liberty the second Sir failed to respond to my own calls.”_

Failed to respond. Tony started to laugh and once he started, he couldn’t stop. It rose in volume until he heard Hill talking. 

“Maybe an ambulance.” She offered. 

With some difficult and refusing Bruce’s help, Tony stood up. “I don’t need an **_ambulance_**. Don’t you see? We’re all gonna die!” 

“Tony you need—” 

“I don’t need anything!” He snapped at Bruce. “WE ARE DOOMED!” Tony got one of the microscopes at nearest table and threw it through a glass wall. Shards exploded everywhere as they heard the thud when it hit the ground and the exclamations at the bottom from the people that were almost hit. “I COULDN’T DO ANYTHING! DON’T YOU SEE?! I CAN NEVER DO ENOUGH! AND WE ARE GOING TO DIE BECAUSE OF IT!” 

Before he could throw a tablet at the newly created window, Tony felt a stinging sensation on his arm and his eyes fluttered close as he fell again, this time caught by Rhodey who had sneaked up on him and jammed a tranquilizer on his bicep. 

As Rhodey lowered his friend onto one of the couches, he calmly turned to meet Bruce’s and Maria’s eyes. “One of you, tell me what is going on right now.” 

Maybe it was the lack of inflection that made the usually easy-going and patient man sound so terrifying. 

Bruce and Maria exchanged looks, eyes wide. “We…” Bruce started, “we don’t know. We… I… he was… we don’t know.” 

And they still didn’t know as half an hour later, Tony woke up and started to shout himself hoarse about another alien invasion, how the Chitauri were coming back. 

“WE ARE SITTING DUCKS! WE CAN’T WIN!” Panting, Tony stumbled across the room, away from Rhodey who didn’t want to tranq him again. 

“J.A.R.V.I.S, call Pepper! NOW!” Rhodey ordered as he restrained Tony in a hold. 

~*~ 

“It’s getting worse.” Helen frowned in fear as she tried to get reading even with Tony trashing in his restrains. 

The technology in the Tower allowed them to get images even without the usual medical equipment but it wasn’t magical. With Tony squirming and almost convulsing even being strapped to the gurney, Helen couldn’t see the details. 

Bruce bit his lip. “Maybe it’s time to tell the others about… whatever is going on.” 

Rhodey frowned. “No. They have no expertise, and they couldn’t tell us anything that J.A.R.V.I.S can’t. We wait for Pepper to get here with the override codes and we go through every footage with a fine-tooth comb. I won’t have any biases to interfere with a possible treatment.” 

“They… ok, they don’t have the softest touch, but they are still our team. If anything they can offer… moral support.” 

“Can they?” Rhodey rolled his eyes. 

A particularly haggard scream from Tony made all three wince. 

“J.A.R.V.I.S, Blackout Protocol. No one gets informed, no one gets in that wasn’t personally vetted by me.” 

_“Done, Colonel.”_

“We’re gonna help you, Tones.” He promised. 

~*~ 

Pepper didn’t know what to think when she heard her voicemails. 

One from J.A.R.V.I.S politely, as always, requesting her presence but that she be discreet in getting to the Tower. 

One from Rhodey pretty much asking the same thing but adding that J.A.R.V.I.S would hep her avoid the Avengers. 

Pepper didn’t make a secret of how she felt about the Avengers. A drain on resources, a nightmare for PR, inconsiderate of other people’s losses and… honestly just bad people. She liked a good physical distance from them at any given moment. 

But this was Tony. 

~*~ 

“Pepper!” Bruce almost jumped at her sight. 

His mild-mannered and soft-spoken demeanor put him on her good side, even as she was always in the opinion that Tony saw their friendship in a way that Bruce didn’t. 

“Dr. Banner.” Pepper winced the tiniest bit, it seemed… passive-aggressive to address him so formally when he used her nickname. 

But Bruce didn’t even seem to notice. “He… Tony… he tried…” 

Rhodey interrupted much to Bruce’s visible relief. “Pepper, Tony is… he is having some sort of breakdown. We don’t know what triggered it. From all accounts, he was fine before the mission they went this morning. We need your override codes to see footage from the armor. See if there was anything strange that the Avengers might have overlooked. Bruce admitted that there was some few minutes, less than twenty, if that, that Tony was alone inside that HYDRA base. He is… yelling about the Chitauri, saying that we are all gonna die… when I got here, Tony had just thrown a microscope through one of the glass walls and a little before we strapped him down in a gurney to get some scans and requested Dr. Cho’s help… he tried to slash his own throat with a scalpel.” 

~*~ 

After that, they didn’t have another choice. It was either their controlled fall or being pushed down the hill by someone else. 

“I want to reassure that Dr. Stark **_is_ ** receiving treatment, the very best there is available, but until further notice he on a leave of absence to better care for his health.” Pepper finished the press conference just as the paperwork finished processing. She got off the stage, already pressing a finger to her communicator. “J.A.R.V.I.S?” 

_“The Avengers have been communicated and they are… demanding a meeting.”_

Pepper rolled her eyes but agreed to a video call. She wasn’t Tony, she saw no need to make herself vulnerable for people trained to be assassins or much physically stronger than her no matter what sense of “family” they might have. 

“Good afternoon, Mr. Rogers. J.A.R.V.I.S informed me that you wished for a conversation.” 

“Yes! This… this one month… warning—” 

“Notice.” Pepper corrected. 

“This is just ridiculous!” Steve insisted. “The Tower is our home!” 

Pepper tried to look politely contrite. “Yes, that’s why I gave a sixty-day period to vacate the premises instead of the thirty-day one I could have done under New York’s laws. I understand that after S.H.I.E.L.D fell, you, Ms. Romanova and Mr. Barton have not had a steady source of income and Dr. Stark had generously offered to assist until, as the saying goes, you got back on your feet. Unfortunately, these recent events… now it is due to medical reasons that the Tower be turned to their original blueprints. Dr. Stark needs a completely stress-free zone in his home and the Avengers deal with very stressful situations, it is their professional hazard even. So, thinking about Dr. Stark’s health and considering the year that Dr. Stark have covered personal expenses, it stands to reason that you can now support yourselves.” 

The CEO watched for a few seconds as Rogers opened and closed his mouth and was pushed aside, made easy due to the wheels in the chair, by Romanova. 

“Pepper, we understand that it’s a difficult time with Tony… so undisposed. But this has… caught us off guard. We truly were not expecting so much and so fast.” Nicknames after almost five years since the last time they saw each other. Romanoff liked to overplay her hand, uh? 

“I understand,” too bad for her, Pepper has long since been used to a pretty girl trying to suck Tony dry, “and I apologize on Dr. Stark’s behalf. I did advise him that offering such accommodations could be insulting but he insisted it was only temporary. His generosity can often be misconstrued but I assure you, Dr. Stark has always had absolute confidence in your autonomy and was not implying anything when he… took over responsibility for simple daily expenses… like toiletries.” 

Pepper genuinely, and a little childishly, wanted to give herself a pat on the back. That was a nice piece of veiled insults. 

Unable to say anything to that, Romanova nodded and quickly ended the call despite the movement Rogers made to take over again. 

Pepper sighed heavily and slumped in her chair. How did Tony deal with this without… well… he did go crazy. Even if it wasn’t for the reasons she thought he would. 

The second Pepper got het hands on those Maximoff twins… 

~*~ 

As Rhodey turned over all the information they had on file on the Maximoffs to the FBI alongside Hill, Happy accompanied Tony in his treatment and watched over his security and Bruce looked for ways to reverse what was done to him, the Scepter started to act up. 

From the Tower, it went to what was left of S.H.I.E.L.D under Fury. 

Ultron still came online… with a different name and a different face, but the sentience inside the Scepter had access to the internet all the same. And could see the horrible things humans did every day all the same. 

**“You’re wondering why you can’t look inside my head.”**

**“Sometimes it’s hard. But sooner or later every man shows himself.”**

**“Oh, I’m sure they do. But you needed something more than a man. That’s why you let Stark take the Scepter.”**

**“I didn’t expect. But I saw Stark’s fear. I knew it would control him, make him self-destruct.”**

“Well… you got that right.” **_He_ ** smiled. “But there is still work to be done.” 

**“Are you going to destroy the Avengers?”**

**“I’m going to save the world, and, well, yes.”**

The Avengers still banded together to fight the new threat. 

Steve Rogers still saw himself in the surviving Sokovian twin and took her under his wing. 

There was only one problem… 

“LOOK AT HIM!” Rhodey finally exploded. 

Rogers, Romanoff and Barton barely spared a glance and Rhodes couldn’t understand why he thought it wouldn’t be so. 

“We understand that Tony isn’t… isn’t healthy right now, but Wanda just lost everything and she deserves a second chance.” Rogers had this habit, Rhodes had long since noticed, of sounding righteous when sprouting complete bullshit. 

“Yeah?” Rhodes derided. “Watch out for tomorrow’s news.” And left the so-called Avengers completely stranded in Sokovia as none of them flew and the Quinjet was destroyed. 

Rhodey hoped that Happy was having some luck in comforting Bruce. Johannesburg was a shit show like nothing he had seen before and Rhodes could only thank Tony for having creating J.A.R.V.I.S who was able to discern emergencies and given him access to VERONICA. 

~*~ 

Three months later, Colonel Rhodes watched with satisfaction as Wanda Maximoff got sentenced for crimes against humanity. The case of mental torture and mental manipulation may not be clear and cut – and Rhodey just watched with no interest how Rogers turned red and then purple with his random sputtering when confronted with a mind controller under his wing, but video records don’t lie and Maximoff very clearly stated what she wanted. 

**“I didn’t expect. But I saw Stark’s fear. I knew it would control him, make him self-destruct.”**

**“I want the big one.”**

"She is just a kid." Steve muttered.

"She is twenty-six, older than you were when you volunteered for Rebirth."

Rhodes didn't avert his eyes from his StarkPhone, Pepper was going to send him news of the treatment some Dr. Stephen Strange was going to try. A Sorcerer, that called himself the Socerer Supreme of all pretentious names, messing around Tony's head with magic was bound to make his friend have an existential crisis but they were desperate.

Rogers tried again. “She didn’t mean for it to happen.” 

Matt Murdock raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “And thus, the charges of manslaughter, when people die without there being an intent to kill.” 

Even if it was clear as day that Murdock saw Wanda as murderer. The files of her actions under HYDRA were there for all to see but because of its lack of trustworthiness, it was frustrating how it was only considered an argument instead of proof. 

When Rogers still had a mulish expression on his face, Rhodey finally rolled his eyes and got to his feet. “Maximoff was convicted of what she **did** mean to happen: Tony being tortured by his own head, Bruce losing control. But it is interesting how you keep pressing the argument that she didn’t **intend** for any of it to happen when the same consideration was never extended to Tony.” 

“What are you talking about?” 

“Tony never intended for his weapons to be sold under the table, and he certainly didn’t intend for Ultron to happen while he is comatose because of some HYDRA witch, Bruce certainty didn’t intend for their program to come online at all, and yet I distinctly recall that intentions didn’t matter, only the results.” Rhodey waited for a bit, not really looking forward to the BS about to be spat by the other man, thankfully none was forthcoming. “Well, Mr. Rogers, you've been served.” He pushed a manila folder towards Rogers and left. 

Foggy took the folder with a grimace. “Acessory after the fact and obstruction of justice.” 

“What does that mean?” Steve tried to pull a bit on the reinforced handcuffs. 

“It means that you knew a crime was committed and didn’t report it, in this case the attack on Johannesburg triggered by Ms. Maximoff. And that you tried to intervene in Ms. Maximoff’s case.” Matt explained, already tired and not really paying attention how Rogers paled by the lower temperature, if he had, maybe Matt could have dodged the "Barnes Bullet" a year from then.

**Author's Note:**

> I got tired of all the “arguments” (if we can call them that) that Wanda didn’t make Tony build Ultron. That, that’s not how her powers work and that how could she even know about Ultron? 
> 
> The only point I can reasonably concede is that she couldn’t have made Tony build Ultron in specific. 
> 
> So, if not to waste ten minutes in a pointless battle and even more screen time with Wanda waving her hands and having special effects team show Tony’s eyes turning red and spending money and time with a flashback with the Avengers dying and an alien invasion in the background, and then having Aaron Taylor-Johnson memorizing the line, “Are we just gonna let him take it?” and Elizabeth Olsen smiling like she just found out she won an Oscar… Well… what did Wanda do? What was her intention? What was the plan? **To make Tony Stark self-destruct**. What happens when she gets exactly what she wanted?
> 
> Also, the argument from some Wanda Stan that "Nobody knew it was her" to justify Johhanesburg aside, either: she is one malicious bitch to sic the Hulk in Johannesburg or she has the reasoning skill and critical thinking of a Toad in slowly boiling water for thinking that she would get any other reaction from The Hulk.
> 
> BTW: Ultron wasn't strictly necessary but I wanted to expose the dialogue there where Wanda express with all the words what she wanted to make happen.


End file.
